[XviD-devel] MPEG-LA announces modified MPEG-4 license

[Christoph Lampert]

Hi,

there has been a press release by MPEG-LA a while ago which might be worth 
knowing: 

http://www.mpegla.com/news/n_04-04-29_m4v.pdf

It announces that MPEG-4 license has been changed and in particular 
simplified. You still have to pay $0.25 per end-user-ready encoder or 
decoder, starting after the first 50000 units. There's still no exception 
for free codecs, like DivX, only the annual cap has been lowered.

But for MPEG-4 contents, the restrictions have been much reduced: 
For Pay-per-view better read the PDF. But for offering MPEG-4 encoded 
material without users paying, it's now a one time fee of $2500 per 
encoder used is distribution is not via internet (cable, satellite...) and 
even free of fee for distribution through the internet (until December 
2008). 

The last part is good news, because that will make free MPEG-4 live 
streams and download more interesting to companies, and therefore could 
push the popularity of online streaming (maybe sports transmission etc.). 

chl

P.S. IANAL.